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Hell's Kitchen Neighborhood in New York City

While Hell's Kitchen is no longer descriptive of the community which incudes the popular restaurant row and modern WorldWide Plaza it is a colorful moniker for an historic and evolving neighborhood.		By Emma Jones Click images to enlarge	iNeTours.com London UK Tour Las Vegas Tour Tour San Francisco Wine Tours CA Central Coast Tour Los Angeles Tour San Diego Tour New Orleans Tour Yosemite Park Pictures & Prints Discount Travel Sightseeing Tours Tour New York City Brooklyn Botanic Garden Steinhardt Conservatory Brooklyn Museum Brooklyn Heights Children's Museum Coney Island KeySpan Park New York Aquarium NY Transit Museum Prospect Park Manhattan Brooklyn Bridge Chelsea Central Park Central Park Map Performances Belvedere Castle The Gates Colleges & Universities The Cloisters Ellis Island Empire State Building Emerald Necklace Financial District Flatiron Building Fort Tryon Park Ground Zero Hell's Kitchen History of NYC Irish Hunger Memorial 42nd Street Library Lincoln Center Little Italy Meatpacking District Morningside Heights Museums in NYC Nightlife-Entertainment Restaurants in NYC Rockefeller Center Top of the Rock Shopping in New York Staten Island Ferry Statue of Liberty South Street Seaport Street Names Times Square Union Square United Nations Upper West Side NYC Beaches Fire Island Rental Search Tips NYC Apartments Roommate Finder NYC Hotels Map of Manhattan New York City Tours Double-Deck Bus Tour Minibus & Limo Tours NYC Helicopter Tours NYC Boat Cruises Walking, Shopping Tour Madame Tussauds Wax Day Trips/Coach Tours 5 Day Package Tour New York Pass New York CityPass Brooklyn Pass
The Hell's Kitchen neighborhood which lies west of Midtown between 30th and 59th street has been home to a variety of residents. In the 19th century it was characterized by poverty, street gangs and rows of slum tenements. In response to Hell's Kitchen's turbulent history community groups in the 1960s tried changing the neighborhood's name to Clinton.
The aim was to create a fresh new image and there were already a high school and park named after De Witt Clinton—ten term New York City Mayor, New York State Governor, U.S. Senator and "father of the Erie Canal." Although the area has moved on from its chequered past, the name hasn't stuck. Nowadays Hells' Kitchen's diverse immigrant heritage has led to some great ethnic cuisine and the hardships of the past have created a strong neighborhood community.
Hell's Kitchen is home to Restaurant Row.	NYC Tours	Hop-on, Hop-off Bus Tours Helicopter Tours New York Cruises Minibus or Stretch Limo Tour Walking Tours & Shopping Tours Day Trips and Coach Tours 5 Day NYC Package Tour Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum New York CityPass New York Pass New York City Apartments Roommate Finder
8th Avenue has earned this name for the scores of international food outlets that line both sides of the street. Restaurant Row is frequented by theatre goers and locals alike but beyond 8th Avenue, Hell's Kitchen is often over looked. Having played a strong part in the cultural development of New York each building in the neighborhood has its own personal story to tell. The Windermere, built two years before the Gramercy is one of the oldest apartment buildings in New York city. The Windermere lies on 9th Avenue but like many buildings of this age has its main entrance on the side because of the IRT Ninth Avenue Line elevated railway—New York's first—which dominated ninth avenue until the 1940s. Plans are underway to convert another no longer used elevated rail line—the High Line—into an urban park. The High Line connects Hell's Kitchen with Chelsea and the Meatpacking District. Another interesting building on 9th Avenue is Bar 9. Its narrow structure was built on an old cart road left over from when Hells Kitchen was farmland crisscrossed by narrow lanes. The old buildings in the area are offset by more modern builds. WorldWide Plaza takes up a whole block. WorldWide Plaza, less than six blocks from Times Square, includes a 27,000-square-foot public plaza and 50 story tower which is an easily recognized addition to the Manhattan skyline viewed from the Hudson River as in the picture at the top of this page. Construction of the WorldWide Plaza complex was completed in 1989. The condominiums on ninth avenue though were built to fit in with the neighborhood's low rise residential feel.